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you wouldnt last an hour in the asylum where they raised me

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As I continue through my read(listen) of A Vision of Shadows, the fact that Thunderclan has so many cats continues to build up and bother me more and more. The clan just does not feel like a close-knit community at all, because even when the books to their little looks around the camp half the cats in Thunderclan are still missing. And they conveniently keep avoiding bringing up how many cats that actually is in different scenes.

You're telling me all of Thunderclan except elders Graystripe Millie Jayfeather went to this gathering? Really? All 30+ of them? And they all fit on the island along with all the other clans?

Or how about the fact that the rogues apparently outnumbered all 3 clans and part of Shadowclan when they went to face them? It just breaks my suspension of disbelief.

And poor Snowbush. This overpopulation is seriously affecting the personal interactions too. Snowbush was such a non-character that he barely even spoke during the scene he got his life-ending injuries, nevermind still not having any kind of personality at all from birth to death.

I miss the actually-close feeling of the clan that the first arc had, where even the most minor Thunderclan characters still had more than 2 lines across 4 books. And here's the thing Shadowclan and Skyclan actually somewhat have that feeling! The background characters still barely have interactions, but at least there's just few enough that they can all get mentioned in a camp scene. Why must Thunderclan have this problem so strongly. It really makes it feel like the writers don't actually care about anything but the plot in these newer books.

#a vision of shadows #avos #warriors #warrior cats #thunderclan

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most important thing about the eclipse:

whatever you do, DON'T listen to some stuck-up calico claiming he caused the sun to disappear! he'll dethrone your leader and become a dictator btw

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"you should be at the club" i should be sleeping peacefully at sunningrocks

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Here are some of my personal favorite first arc family tree headcanons

Willowpelt and Darkstripe as littermates. With Darkstripe called old and Willowpelt called one of Bluestar's senior warriors once, i think it makes a lot of sense for them to be the same age. They also share unique pelts, being pale gray and silver stripes, which in real life would probably be the result of the silver/smoke gene. Because of that I also often give them to One-eye as her kits, as she is another pale gray cat.

I do really like the idea of Graystripe being related to them, but because it's stated that Sorrel-Rain-Soot are Willowpelt's first litter, I like to tack Graystripe on as Willowpelt and Darkstripe's younger brother from a second litter.

Next, I'm a strong advocate for Lionheart and Speckletail being littermates. Lionheart is a senior warrior, and Speckletail doesn't become an elder until the later half of the first series. I think them being siblings makes a lot more sense than Speckletail having kits immediately after becoming a warrior with a cat way older than her.

This next one changes a bit as I see fit, but I generally like Frostfur, Redtail, and Spottedleaf being the kits of Dappletail, with Spotted being from a second litter. Frostfur and Redtail being older-but-not-yet senior warriors who lost their deaf littermate as a kit feels right to me, and still keeps Spottedleaf related to the other tortoiseshell cats in the clan while also giving Dappletail her implied second litter.

I drop and add Brindleface as Spottedleaf's littermate depending on whether I consider Redtail the father of her kits as well. I really like the two young she-cats being sisters, being a bit older than Longtail but only just establishing their place in the clan when Rusty shows up.

Feel free to ask me about any other of my thunderclan family tree ideas! These ones are just the most consistent for me, if I went into every option I consider for all the cats we'd be here all day

#warrior cats #warrior cats analysis #warriors #warrior cats family tree #thunderclan #the prophecy begins #tpb #wc family tree

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Disregarding the prequels, imagine if during Into The Wild Spottedleaf is actually Ravenpaw's littermate and an extremely young medicine cat, having to had taken her full name at only around 8 moons because of the greencough epidemic that took the lives of 5 kits (canon), multiple clanmates, and her mentor Featherwhisker

Her mutual pinning for Firestar would make more sense as well, those 5 apprentices were the cats she should have belonged with. But she had to grow up so soon, and die even more tragically young as Starclan intended in order to be their new mouthpiece

#spottedleaf #thunderclan #into the wild #warrior cats #warriors

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I've started listening to A Vision of Shadows and just found out Lilyheart (why did BrackenSorrel need a SIXTH child) 's mate is Snowbush (why did BrightCloud need another litter so late), her direct cousin 🥴

Why, why.... these are background characters with no prior personality. They needed a queen to take care of Twigkit, sure, but they could have chosen anyone else at all 😭

I guess it's the curse of Frostfur's kits to also always have at least 4 kits of their own, it's just ridiculous how they overpower Thunderclan's genetics

#warriors #warrior cats #warrior cats family tree #lilyheart #snowbush

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After my reread of A Dangerous Path, Dustpelt and Ferncloud's relationship has continued to stay on my mind.

As a kid reading the books, I thought it was weird how Dustpelt and Ferncloud got together between the first and second arcs and already had kits in the timeskip. There was something off about the two to me. But I didn't realize how blatant their affections already were in the first arc. Firestar even describes Dustpelt's affection for FernPAW as love.

This ship just seeereiously weirds me out and I wish there was more discussion to read about it. Yes, Dustpelt is not a whole lot older than Fernpaw. There are bigger gaps elsewhere that I have no problem with. It's the fact that he's actively pursuing her, and apprentice, when he's a warrior. They don't even have the excuse of having been kits or apprentices at the same time at one point.

Not only that, but Dustpelt is her brother's mentor and actively in a position of power over her. He even asks Firestar if he can directly be her mentor when Darkstripe is exiled. Fernpaw barely had any personality or scenes apart from him other than when Brindleface, her mother, dies.

I know they just wanted to give Dustpelt some kind of personality after Sandstorm stopped being his bully buddy 3 books ago and there were no other older she-cats to pair him with (because they actually kept Mousefur aroace thank god) but I just wish the creepy nature was adknowleged and they weren't praised as such a loving, wholesome, totally-not-groomed relationship

#warriors #warrior cats #warrior cats analysis #dustpelt #ferncloud #fernpaw

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made these studying cat genetics over the past 2 weeks!

i felt like there weren't enough visual guides of cat genetics so i went ahead and made some simple ones, my main references were Sparrow's Garden the website, Sparrow's Garden the blog, Messybeast, and The Little Carnivore.

#reference #cat design #cat genetics

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First family tree post here we go

So, I've spent countless hours coming up with different family combinations for the ThunderClan cats we see spawn into existence for Into The Wild. I did go in wanting to create the Ultimate Canon-Compliant Family Tree as established in the first arc, but at this point there's still so many options it could be and I'm mostly just exploring them for fun. I do have a few rules that I stick to when I do these though.

1. I disregard retcons after 2009. This means I don't consider family established after-the-fact to be canon. The main offender of this is Bluestar's Prophecy and the other prequels, but also includes Code of the Clans as it's clear the cats they bring up were from the Bluestar's Prophecy drafts. I've grown affectionate of the early ThunderClan cats from my time trying to get them to work before, but it just introduces so many inconsistencies, especially with timeline and ages, that I choose not to work with them most of the time now

2. Ages of the cats are what they appear to be from the first arc. This is kind of included in #1 as the prequel books are what set the ages of a lot of cats, but even still I use textual evidence in the first original 6 books over anything else

3. Textual evidence is word. I disregard word-of-god retcons from the Erins and use textual evidence for all my combinations. This means looking at how characters interact with each other for hints of their existing relationship

4. I prevent future incest best I can. We all know how infamous the family tree is for this, but it's not too hard to avoid once I already have the can't-be-family cats in mind. I also don't consider 3 generations away to be incest anymore. Paired cats can't share grandparents, but they can share great-grandparents, especially since most the cats in the books don't even pay attention to or remember their family that far up

From there I come up with different "soft" rules to follow for each new tree I try, such as cutting down on how many cats have multiple litters, comparing how many parents there are in arcs 3 and 4 to match to arc 1 by size, matching cats by pelt color, etc. But this is the basis I work off of and will have this here for future reference

#warrior cats #warrior cats family tree #wc family tree #reference post #family tree rules #thunderclan

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I find it super ironic that my first post is about shipping when that's already what all of fandom focuses on lmao.

Anyway I'm halfway through A Dangerous Path on my reread and I just cannot get behind Fireheart x Sandstorm. And it's on both of their ends.

Fireheart does not spare her a thought. He doesn't realize her affections until Cinderpelt points them out. After this he begins to see her as attractive, and shares meals and patrols sometimes, but his inner dialogue never views her as a close friend or someone to actually depend on like he does Graystripe and Cinderpelt.

Like he says when Cloupaw gets captured by twolegs, he feels he has no one left in ThunderClan, with Graystripe in Riverclan and Cinderpelt busy with med cat duties. And Sandstorm gets offended by this. Not hurt that her feelings aren't mutual, but angry at him and expecting him to make up for it.

And she continues to get angry and petty at him for not being the cat she wants. Sandstorm does have feelings for him, but she's so mean about it. When Fireheart discloses going behind Bluestar's back to prevent the battle with Windclan to all the warriors, she straight up recruits Dustpelt to bully him again for his actions. And all the other times she gets offended when he's busy and can't spend time with her. I just don't see any actual affection here.

I don't remember if a significant change happens in their interactions by the last book, but I just feel that they are not a good fit for each other lol

#warrior cats #warrior cats analysis #a dangerous path #fireheart #firestsr #sandstorm

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So, I've decided I've spent enough time in my head and want to share the warrior cats observations and ideas I've been making for the past few months. I first read the series as a kid in 2012 and read everything avaliable to me up to The Last Hope and half of DOTC. After having a small resurgence in 2019 I have come fully back into the series and am on my way through a full reread.

I have always been obsessed with the family tree, and making my own connections and versions that make more sense to me than the tangled mess of ""canon"" (where half the sources aren't even from books). I also really like exploring the hints of culture and such displayed in the books. I'm one who really like taking what we're given down to the word and digging into the implied (and often unintentional) intricacies present.

I hope you enjoy my blog!

#warriors #warrior cats #warrior cats analysis #pinned post